Expanding Reach with Additive Manufacturing

Expanding Reach with Additive Manufacturing

Product development supplier buys world’s largest powderbed additive system to expand reach in multiple industries

Today Roush is the first service supplier in North America with the largest metal additive manufacturing system of its kind. Additive manufacturing is a process that creates a physical object from a digital design.

Roush has purchased the Xline 2000R, the largest powderbed metal additive system in the world. Acquired by GE Additive in 2016, the Xline 2000R from Concept Laser has a build envelope of 800 x 400 x 500 mm for large-scale production, such as engine blocks. The machine includes a rotating platform that allows two build modules to be used reciprocally.

The company has expanded its additive manufacturing capabilities with equipment to benefit multiple industries, including aerospace, automotive, defense, energy, entertainment, medical and consumer products.

“During the past year, Roush has invested millions of dollars in new additive manufacturing equipment to expand our reach into more industries,” said Dean Massab, executive vice president of business development for Roush Enterprises. “Investing in the latest additive manufacturing technology continues our commitment to innovative, high-performance solutions — from concept maturation and optimization, all the way through to hardware integration and development.”

Roush has been providing additive manufacturing and rapid prototyping services, commonly known as 3D printing, for more than 15 years. Roush’s latest investment adds new fused deposition modeling with large-frame machines from Stratasys; direct metal laser melting equipment from EOS; and capabilities in design for additive and topology optimization to its existing stereolithography, selective laser sintering and rapid prototyping services.

“Roush is a single-source product development supplier for customers,” said Brandy Badami, business development manager, additive manufacturing for Roush. “Our unique advantage in the additive manufacturing industry allows Roush to provide seamlessly integrated services like no one else can.”

Roush’s new 3D printing capabilities also include working with advanced materials, such as production-grade thermoplastics and carbon fiber-filled nylon material. Aerospace industry customers will benefit from Ultem materials (used in production aircraft components) with their high heat and chemical resistance, and certifications in flame, smoke and toxicity.

The automotive industry will benefit from actual production material (ABS, PC, PPSF, etc.) for prototype and production parts without the need for tooling. And military and racing industry customers will benefit from the lightweight, mechanical properties of the carbon-fiber-filled nylon material for high performance components.

Also with these advanced materials, Roush can 3D print sacrificial tooling for composite components and parts. This allows for composite parts to have exotic geometries that cannot be manufactured by traditional means.

Roush is International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) compliant and Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) registered for tanks and military vehicles, aircraft and associated equipment, military training equipment, auxiliary military equipment, spacecraft systems and associated equipment.

“Our clients are achieving market dominance faster and with better performance with these expanded opportunities in additive manufacturing combined with Roush’s leading expertise in innovative design, engineering and development services,” said Badami.

About Roush

Roush, a full-service product development supplier headquartered in Livonia, Michigan, has over 4,000 employees in facilities located throughout North America, Europe and Asia. Widely recognized for providing engineering, testing, prototype and manufacturing services to the mobility industry, Roush also provides significant support to the aerospace, defense and theme park industries. Roush is a subsidiary of Roush Enterprises, Inc., which is also the parent company of Roush Fenway Racing; Roush Performance, developer and manufacturer of performance vehicles and products for the automotive aftermarket; and Roush CleanTech, developer and manufacturer of alternative fuel systems for the fleet vehicle market.

About Concept Laser

Concept Laser GmbH, which was founded in 2000 by Frank Herzog, is one of the world’s leading providers of machine and plant technology for 3D printing of metal parts. Since December 2016, Concept Laser has been part of GE Additive, a division of the world’s leading digital industrial enterprise General Electric (GE). GE Additive was founded in 2016 and acquired 75% of the company shares of Concept Laser, among others.

The technology driver is the patented LaserCUSING® technology from Concept Laser. The powder-bed-based laser melting of metals opens up new freedoms when it comes to configuring parts and also permits the tool-free, economic fabrication of highly complex components in fairly small batch sizes. The company’s customers come from many different sectors of industry, for example medical and dental technology, the aerospace industry, toolmaking and mold construction, the automotive industry and the watch and jewelry industry. Among other materials, Concept Laser’s 3D metal printers process powder materials of stainless steel and hot-work steels, aluminum and titanium alloys and – for jewelry making – precious metals.

In addition to first-class additive production machines, also from Concept Laser, GE Additive offers materials and extensive development consulting for various industries. GE Additive is dedicated to the further development and transformation of the industrial sector with software-defined plants as well as networked, adaptable and forward-looking solutions.